BY JENNIFER VARGAS

We’re all very busy with our creative work: editing videos, writing blog posts, planning and producing our next piece of share-worthy content. That’s why making a group on the Muses app is the easy part! Getting your Muses group members to be active and engaged, on the hand, may be a little trickier than you think.

Here’s how to get your Muses group moving and grooving:

Focus On Your Muses Group Interests

Note that you should always have a goal when making a Muses group, whether that goal is to bring photographers together to collaborate or to find influencers ready to promote your brand. Whatever your goal, it should resonant with your group name and mission.

The clearer the name of your Muses group and its description, the more likely you will garner the interest of motivated members who are rearing to interact.

Focus on location, too. This will increase the possibility for members to engage offline if they live near each other. How else will you find friends to go to brunch with who also love to snap pics of their food before eating?

Have a Good description in your Muses Group Bio

The first thing people will read after you invite them to join your join is your Muses group’s description. If you don’t use that description to clearly define the purpose of the group and the benefit of joining, you’ll find it difficult to retain members.

Return back to the focus of your Muses group’s interest and why you wanted to start your group in the first place. With a clear focus and purpose, your Muses group will sell itself to the ideal members.

Be the First to Engage your Muses Group

You are the Admin of your Muses group, so have fun with it and be a social butterfly! Set up icebreakers or Instagram challenges right off the bat, as members continue to join. Offer coupons or free blowouts in exchange for social posts, host a meet-n-greet, or plan a local brunch for your members!

Your members will look to you first for guidance. You’re the expert. You’re in charge of what to do in your Muses group. Get them to engage by being the first to engage yourself.

You’ll quickly learn what gets your members creatively motivated and what doesn’t.

Find ways to get members to engage with each other

If you’d like your members to engage with one another (which you absolutely do!) incentivize them to do so. Contests, giveaways, Instagram follow-trains, and re-gram opportunities are a just few methods you can deploy to encourage your Muses group members to interact online and offline. Your creativity is the limit!

Find ways to creatively engage your members and they will in turn be very thankful.

Use your Muses Group to Host Events

I cannot express enough just how valuable it is to know someone I’ve engaged with for months online before getting to meet them in person! Provide the environment for your members to truly blossom with their new found friendships. Host events at local parks, festivals, bars, or brunch spots. All you have to do is pick a spot and meet!

Growing any community takes time, effort, and trial and error. Knowing that, have fun with your Muses groups and the amazing creative people you’ll come to meet from it! If you have any questions, reach out to me on Twitter or Instagram @Narz!

For a detailed look on Instagram’s algorithm changes or for general engagement tips, check out these posts:

Jennifer Vargas popularly known as NARZ, is a native Dominican New Yorker working full-time as a social media producer for The Gamer Agency. Former brand ambassador to Ubisoft, Bethesda, and Wargaming, Hispanic Coalition 40 Under 40 nominee, her work is often featured in The Washington Post and Discovery Communication. For more from Narz, follow her onTwitter , Instagram , Tumblr , and Facebook .